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Nah this site is hilariously anti-blockchain. With less intellectual curiosity than my boomer parents. It's embarrassing really, for a "tech" site. NGMI. Keep b

Nah this site is hilariously anti-blockchain. With less intellectual curiosity than my boomer parents. It's embarrassing really, for a "tech" site. NGMI. Keep being slaves to big tech I guess.

skohan 5y ago
I find it quite normal that one of the more tech-literate forums on the internet would see through the obvious bs coming out of blockchain advocacy. HN readers are probably more likely than the average person to understand how blockchain actually works, and why so many of the claims made about it are patent nonsense.
lwansbrough 5y ago
Cryptocurrency is a political tool nobody asked for. Blockchain is a data structure. There’s not much to understand, it’s not complicated for anybody with a half decent understanding of computer science. What is complicated, and what nearly every coin-swindler misses in their naive analysis of the value of Blockchain, is that they’re operating in the realm of geopolitics, with actors who have much more at stake. Decentralization, and thus decentralized cryptocurrencies are antithetical to optimal game theory strategy and natural order. To maintain decentralization over time requires infinite energy, because centralization is fundamental to how nature behaves. That’s why governments exist, that’s why central banks exist. That’s why efforts to optimize the pile of shit that is every cryptocurrency revolve around centralizing some aspect of the network. Centralization is optimally efficient. The entire premise of cryptocurrency is flawed, but that is overlooked by the plebs who just want to get rich quick. It’s embarrassing really.
oliwarner 5y ago
I think it's fairly natural to want to see where your money is going. Blockchain currency is an interesting idea but ultimately hamstrung by speculative investment making its value float around wildly and makes transactions prohibitively expensive. It's absolutely clear that it enables an entire industry of online crime as well as money laundering. Oh and demand for POW currency is destroying the planet and contributing to a 2y graphics card shortage. NFTs are mental. Paying rare art prices for some bits saying you're the owner of something at a single registry? Haha. Good one. Blockchain in the broader sense is often yet another bullshit buzzword we've had to wade through in client demands, job postings, product specs. Distributed ledgers are rarely the right technology for... Yeah. HN's tone on Blockchain is entirely appropriate.

Nah this site is hilariously anti-blockchain. With less intellectual curiosity than my boomer parents. It's embarrassing really, for a "tech" site. NGMI. Keep being slaves to big tech I guess.

skohan 5y ago

I find it quite normal that one of the more tech-literate forums on the internet would see through the obvious bs coming out of blockchain advocacy. HN readers are probably more likely than the average person to understand how blockchain actually works, and why so many of the claims made about it are patent nonsense.

lwansbrough 5y ago

Cryptocurrency is a political tool nobody asked for. Blockchain is a data structure. There’s not much to understand, it’s not complicated for anybody with a half decent understanding of computer science. What is complicated, and what nearly every coin-swindler misses in their naive analysis of the value of Blockchain, is that they’re operating in the realm of geopolitics, with actors who have much more at stake. Decentralization, and thus decentralized cryptocurrencies are antithetical to optimal game theory strategy and natural order. To maintain decentralization over time requires infinite energy, because centralization is fundamental to how nature behaves. That’s why governments exist, that’s why central banks exist. That’s why efforts to optimize the pile of shit that is every cryptocurrency revolve around centralizing some aspect of the network. Centralization is optimally efficient. The entire premise of cryptocurrency is flawed, but that is overlooked by the plebs who just want to get rich quick. It’s embarrassing really.

oliwarner 5y ago

I think it's fairly natural to want to see where your money is going. Blockchain currency is an interesting idea but ultimately hamstrung by speculative investment making its value float around wildly and makes transactions prohibitively expensive. It's absolutely clear that it enables an entire industry of online crime as well as money laundering. Oh and demand for POW currency is destroying the planet and contributing to a 2y graphics card shortage. NFTs are mental. Paying rare art prices for some bits saying you're the owner of something at a single registry? Haha. Good one. Blockchain in the broader sense is often yet another bullshit buzzword we've had to wade through in client demands, job postings, product specs. Distributed ledgers are rarely the right technology for... Yeah. HN's tone on Blockchain is entirely appropriate.